The disclosures herein relate generally to hard disk drives and more particularly to a damping mechanism for limiting unwanted shock loads from being induced on a hard disk drive during installation.
Hard disk drives are typically attached to a bracket before being installed into a computer chassis. The bracket may be hinged on one side of the chassis and then rotated into final position and attached with a screw. When the computer chassis and hard drive bracket are in the correct orientation where gravity can assist in installation, the bracket can rotate rapidly and slam into a seated and secured position, which can damage the hard drive due to the induced shock load. Although steps are taken to train assembly personnel to prevent such shock loads during assembly, there are still occurrences and the resulting damage potential remains present. Such damage is also possible during maintenance procedures and anytime when the hard drive bracket is rotated out of its secured position in the chassis.
Numerous shock and vibration damping mechanisms have been proposed to prevent damage to hard disk drives. Such mechanisms are directed to protection of hard disk drives by mounting the drives to include a vibration and shock damping structure which protects the drive during use and handling of the computer. There are multiple piece assemblies which include hard drive brackets and ground springs that function to damp the vibration produced by the hard drive during operation. However, these mechanisms do not provide for protection of the hard disk drive during the steps of assembly where shock damage can also occur.
Therefore, what is needed is a method and apparatus for damping shock loads imposed on a hard disk drive mounted in an associated bracket during assembly.